Anthony’s Pier 4 is having its woes this year, writes CommonWealth contibutor Colman Herman:

The Boston Globe reported this week that the storied seafood restaurant has run-up $822,000 in delinquent taxes owed to the City of Boston.

Now considered to be the local father’s Oldsmobile of restaurants, Pier Four is also involved in a lawsuit alleging that it improperly forced a server to hand over a portion of his tips to management. Shannon Liss-Riordan, the plaintiff’s lawyer in the case, says she anticipates filing for certification as a class action.

All this prompted CommonWealth to check to see how well Pier Four is faring in its food inspections by the City of Boston’s Inspectional Services Department. Not so good, we found!

This year, Pier Four failed two of its four ISD inspections. In February, the restaurant was cited for nine violations, a number of which fell into what ISD labeled as being “critical.” For example, the inspector found that raw scallops and clams were not being stored at the proper temperature, the interior of an ice machine was rusted, and the sanitizer for wiping cloths was not working properly. The ISD inspector also found that 40 pounds of clam chowder — which sells for $6.95 a bowl — was not cooled properly and so needed to be thrown out. But according to ISD spokeswoman Lisa Timberlake, the restaurant was not cited for this because the problem was immediately corrected. Strange!

In August, ISD also cited Pier 4 for six “non-critical” violations, including having a floor drain filled with debris and a hood at the grill with grease build-up.

Anyone for popovers?